Volume 22, Number 2 fall 2018 NEWSLETTER OF THE Mozart Society of America

Inside this Issue:

“Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart,” by Paul Corneilson . . . 1 “Mozart’s Turkish Tattoo: Hybridity in Die Entführung Announcements ...... 2 aus dem Serail,” by Adem Merter Birson . . . . . 7 Report: MSA Panel at the Mostly Mozart Festival . . . 3 Reviews: Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition Introducing Alyson McLamore, Treasurer, Private Music, Fragments, Arrangements, and and Samuel Breene, Secretary ...... 3 Doubtful Works, reviewed by Murl Sickbert . . . . 12 Postcards and Posters by Mark Podwal ...... 4 Italian Operas, reviewed by John Platoff . . . . . 13 Reflections on Mozart Communities Event and German Operas, reviewed by Lisa de Alwis . . . . 14 the Opening of Mozartwoche, January 2018, , reviewed by Edward Klorman . . 15 by Laurel E . Zeiss ...... 5

Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart in germania e amadeo Mozart in italia” (MBA, vol . 1, 342), which suggests that Italians preferred Amadeo to Wolfgang Paul Corneilson (see the letter to Padre Martini of September 4, 1776; MBA, vol . 1, 533) . The first biography of Mozart by Franz Xaver Niemetschek, The first letter to his father from Wasserburg, on Septem- originally published in 1798, gives the composer’s name as ber 23, 1777, is signed “Wolfgang Amadé Mozart” (MBA, “Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart” on its title page . When the sec- vol . 2, 7), which seems significant as this was the first time ond edition was published in 1808, the name was changed the two of them were separated . Many letters from Munich, to “” without further comment . Augsburg, Mannheim, and Paris in 1777–78 are signed with Why? Georg Niklaus Nissen used “W .A . Mozart” on the title “Amadé” as the middle name, but others use his initials “W: page of his biography (1828), and since the biography was A: Mozart ”. (Leopold also tends to address the letters to completed by his widow Constanze Mozart, this form of his “Wolfgang Amadé Mozart ”). But there are also letters signed name was authorized by someone who wanted to preserve “Wolfgang Amadè Mozart” (e .g ., MBA, vol . 2, 121) or “Wolf- his heritage . gang Amade Mozart” (e .g ., MBA, vol . 2, 179), and a few are Mozart’s birth certificate bears the Greek form of the name, signed “Wolfgang gottlieb Mozart” (e .g ., MBA, vol . 2, 126) . “Theophilus,” meaning “beloved by God,” and this of course I could not find any with “Amadeus” from this period, and is what the German (Gottlieb) and Latin (Amadeus) names indeed, this would have seemed a little recherché for a young mean as well . The first letter that survives by Mozart (to an man writing mostly to his father and sister . Some of the let- unknown girl) from 1769 is signed simply “Wolfgang Mo- ters written from Munich in 1780–81 have abbreviated sig- zart” (MBA, vol . 1, 290), as are most of the letters written to natures, like “Wolf Am: Mozart” (MBA, vol . 3, 21), perhaps his sister from Italy (e .g ., Verona, January 7, 1770; MBA, vol . 1, because he was busy writing . My sense is that he 301) . Occasionally, he uses only “Wolfgang” (e .g ., MBA, vol . 1, favored “Amadè” to “Amadé” for his middle name, though I 432) . His young English friend Thomas Linley addressed him have not counted all the instances . as “Amadeo Wolfgango Mozart” on April 6, 1770 (MBA, vol . Soon after settling in Vienna in 1781, he seems to have set- 1, 332), and Wolfgang signed his name this way in his letter to tled on “W . A . Mozart” (or “W: A:”) when writing to his fa- Linley on September 10, 1770 (MBA, vol . 1, 389) . From Rome, ther, and after marrying Constanze in August 1782, he often on April 25, 1770, he playfully wrote to his sister: “Wolfgango included her initials as well . In his last years, when writing to continued on page 2 Newsletter of the Mozart Society of America Announcements Volume 22, Number 2 Fall 2018 ISSN: 1527-3733 A Note from the Editor

TheNewsletter is published twice yearly (spring and fall) by the Mozart Society of America . Guidelines As many members already know, I am handing down the ed- for submission are posted on the website: itorship of the Newsletter to our current reviews editor, Emily www .mozartsocietyofamerica .org . Wuchner, whose term will begin with the spring 2019 issue . Editor: Christopher Lynch This was my first experience as an editor, and these last three lynchchristop@gmail .com years have been a wonderful journey . I am especially grateful to Paul Corneilson, Bruce Brown, and all of the members of Associate Editor: Emily Wuchner wuchner2@illinois .edu the Publications Committee for their guidance . Serving as editor has been the most meaningful experience of my early Designed by Dean Bornstein career, not only because of all I have learned, but also because Mozart Society of America of the many friends I have made . I look forward to working c/o Alyson McLamore with the Society in new ways in the years to come . 708 Avenida de Diamante —Christopher Lynch Arroyo Grande, CA 93420

MSA Business Meeting and Study Session friends, he signed his surname only (e .g ., MBA, vol . 4, 11 and The annual business meeting of the Mozart Society of Amer- 70), but to his wife he almost always included an endearment . ica will take place during the American Musicological Soci- In one of his last official letters, written to the Magistrate of ety conference in San Antonio, Texas, on Friday, November 2, the city of Vienna in May 1791 asking to be considered to from 8:00 to 11:00 pm in the Grand Hyatt Hotel . (The room replace Kapellmeister Hofmann at St . Stephen’s should he location will be announced later when it is assigned .) The not recover from his illness, he signed his name “Wolfgang study session will include a screening of the filmFrom Mao to Amadé Mozart” (MBA, vol . 4, 131) . (Michael Lorenz has Mozart, directed by Murray Lerner, which won an Academy shown that some of the official documents from Vienna use Award in 1981 for best documentary film . After the film (84 “von” to indicate his appointment as a Knight of the Golden minutes), which is about ’s visits to China in 1979 Spur .) and his work to bring the music of Mozart to that nation (at Interestingly, in her appeal to Leopold II for a pension on the time much secluded from the West), there will be time for December 11, 1791, Constanze refers to her recently deceased discussion . Please invite your colleagues and graduate stu- husband as “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” (MBA, vol . 4, 177) . dents to join us for this beautiful film . Many of his late publications, including the “Haydn” Quar- tets, Op . 10, are signed simply “W .A . Mozart,” and many of the early first editions also use this abbreviated form of his Renewal Reminder name . But Breitkopf & Härtel’s Oeuvres Complettes (begun ca . 1800) gives the name as “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” (in If you have not already renewed your membership for 2018– italic lettering), and throughout the rest of the nineteenth and 19, please do so . You can find the membership form on the twentieth centuries we have come to know him as “Wolfgang MSA website, along with calls for papers and information on Amadeus ”. The Latin form of his middle name emphasizes other Mozart topics . Thank you for your continuing support . the classical and god-like qualities in Mozart’s music . Thus, Peter Schaffer’s play is titledAmadeus to emphasize God’s fa- voritism toward Mozart from the perspective of the fictional Salieri’s eyes . But Mozart himself must have preferred the Italianate form of his middle name to the German Gottlieb, which is clear even from this unscientific survey . As Shake- speare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ”.

2 MSA Panel at the Mostly Mozart Festival

For the sixth consecutive year, MSA held a panel discussion in association with ’s Mostly Mozart Festival in . It took place Sunday afternoon, July 29, at the Stanley H . Kaplan Penthouse . Audience members, seated at circular tables, participated in the question-and-answer period that followed the presentations . The number of people in attendance increases yearly in size and enthusiasm . This year’s topic was “Mozart the Maverick,” with Bruce Alan Brown ably serving as moderator . Edmund J . Goeh- ring began with “The ‘New Rule’ of Genius: Mozart at the Boundaries of Originality and Tradition ”. Edward Klorman followed with “A Sociable Virtuosity? Challenge and Com- plexity in Mozart’s Music of Friends ”. Laurel E . Zeiss con- cluded with “Mozart the Maverick? Mozart the Competitor? Or Mozart Purveyor of Grace?” It was especially beneficial Moderator Bruce Brown introduces panelists Edmund Goehring, that participants included in their discussions works per- Laurel E . Zeiss, and Edward Klorman at the Mostly Mozart Festival formed at the Festival, for example, Mozart’s String Quintet in G Minor, K . 516, and the composer’s Symphony in D Ma- jor, K . 504 (“”) . —Suzanne Forsberg

Introducing Alyson McLamore, Treasurer, and for the US Academic Decathlon, and writes program notes Samuel Breene, Secretary for the San Luis Obispo Festival Mozaic (formerly the Mozart Festival), the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale, and the San Luis Obispo Symphony . After completing four degrees at UCLA—including a master’s thesis on Violinist and historian Samuel Breene Andrew Lloyd Webber and a doctoral is an active recitalist and chamber mu- dissertation on eighteenth-century sician, having studied at the Johannes London concert life (supported by a Gutenberg University in Mainz, Ger- grant from the Fulbright Commis- many, and at Duke University, where he sion)—Alyson McLamore has contin- received an AM in performance prac- ued to explore music of both the past tice and a PhD in historical musicology . and present in her research and teach- He has taught at New York University ing . Named a Distinguished Teacher at Cal Poly San Luis and the University of Pennsylvania and Obispo, she has designed courses in film music, women in is currently on the faculty of Rhode Island College, where he music, and musical theater, and the second edition of her teaches courses in music history and leads the textbook Musical Theater: An Appreciation was published by Ensemble . In recent years he has appeared as a member of Routledge in 2017 . In addition to co-editing Musica Franca: the Proteus String Quartet, the faculty ensemble at Rhode Essays in Honor of Frank A. D’Accone, she has published arti- Island College, and Musicke’s Cordes, a baroque duo with cles concerning the concert activities of the prodigies Charles lutenist Jeffrey Noonan . His scholarly work, including a re- Wesley Jr . and Samuel Wesley, an overture by a Saxon prin- cent essay in Early Music, focuses on Mozart’s chamber music cess, eighteenth-century “sea” music and its impact on British approached from the perspective of historical performance national identity, and “vision songs” in musical theater; she and Enlightenment culture . His work has been supported by also has contributed entries for the Dictionary of the History Javits and Mellon fellowships . of Ideas and Broadway: An Encyclopedia of Theater and Amer- ican Culture . She has created several music resource guides

3 Postcards and Posters by Mark Podwal

MSA member Mark Podwal always loved to draw, but rather than pursuing formal art training he became a physician . While in medical school, the tumultuous events of the 1960s compelled him to create a series of political drawings that were published in his first book . These images were brought to the attention of an art director at the New York Times, and in 1972 his first drawing appeared on its op-ed page . That drawing, which depicted the Munich Olympics massacre, was later exhibited at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in the Palais du Louvre . Podwal’s art is represented in the collec- tions of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum, among many other venues . Moreover, in 1996 the French government named Podwal an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters . Recently Podwal has taken an interest in Mozart’s life and music . The National Gallery in Prague is acquiring thirty-five of his Mozart drawings and paintings, and the has commissioned six limited-edition Mozart opera posters, which can be viewed and purchased at the Met’s on- line store . Podwal has also created a set of ten Mozart post- cards for the Czech National Theater in Prague . This set is now available for MSA members to purchase for $10, includ- ing shipping . To order, contact MSA treasurer Alyson Mc- Lamore (amclamor@calpoly .edu) . Mark Podwal, Poster for , Metropoli- tan Opera (2018)

Mark Podwal, “Woodwinds at Prague Symphony Pre- Mark Podwal in his studio miere,” Czech National Theater Postcards, No . 10 (2018)

4 Reflections on Mozart Communities Event and rangements were delightful and left me wondering why they the Opening of Mozartwoche, January 2018 are not performed more frequently . The Mozart Communities working session the next day Laurel E. Zeiss included representatives from three continents . Ulrich Leisinger, director of the Mozarteum’s Research Institute, and Förster reminded those in attendance that the Mozarteum Each year the Mozarteum in presents Mozartwoche, has three pillars: maintaining the Mozart museums, organiz- a week of concerts, lectures, and other special events that cel- ing concerts, and promoting research . To these they added a ebrate Mozart and his music . The annual festival intention- fourth—outreach, including fostering Mozart Communities ally incorporates a variety of approaches to the composer’s across the globe . Over thirty organizations are now officially life and music in the hopes of sparking fresh perspectives associated with the Mozarteum . Leisinger gave updates on on the man and his works . Additionally, each Mozartwoche the Mozarteum’s activities during the past year and its fu- has an overarching theme . This year the focus was on works ture plans . Most notably, famous Rolando Villazón has Mozart composed and encountered in 1782, stressing the been appointed ambassador and artistic director for Mozart- cosmopolitan nature of Mozart’s music and life . During the woche . His special remit is to create projects and programs festival’s opening days, Mozart was repeatedly referred to as a beyond . The goal is to bring two days of music from European composer rather than an Austrian one . Moreover, Mozartwoche 2019 to other countries . artistic director Maren Hofmeister, Mozarteum executive The process of broadening the activities of the Mozarteum Thomas Bodmer, and director of international cooperations beyond Salzburg has already begun . Leisinger stated that the Franziska Förster reiterated the following message: We know foundation gave programs and participated in cooperative that music is powerful . Therefore we must use it to bring peo- projects in Ukraine, Cuba, Japan, and Columbia this past ple together, promote cooperation between groups, and cre- year . On the research front, the Mozart libretti project will ate a better world . Mozart’s Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem now include Spanish translations of the operas; this initiative Serail, with its message of tolerance, served as a cornerstone stems from a partnership with a research institute in Argen- for the week’s activities . tina . I was privileged to represent the Mozart Society of Amer- Mozart Communities representatives were treated to a ica at a number of Mozartwoche events, including the open- mini-recital by Alice Hoffmann, mezzo soprano and Lilli ing reception and address and a working session for dele- Lehmann medal winner, who sang lieder by Mozart and gates from over thirty Mozart Societies . The week’s opening “Smanie implacabili” from Così fan tutte . Her performance “prelude” featured a speech by novelist and journalist Eva was followed by a special presentation by the Sächsische Mo- Menasse . The author drew on the plot of Die Entführung zart-Gesellschaft, one of the most active Mozart societies in and the story of Cain and Abel to explore the paradoxical Europe . This association was celebrating ten years of “100Mo- nature of forgiveness . Renouncing revenge and retaliation, zartkinder,” a free music education program for youth in she argued, leads to power and autonomy . Forgiveness as the southeastern . To demonstrate some of their teach- Pasha exercises it exemplifies the freedom and sovereignty ing techniques, they led the delegates in a rousing birthday we as individuals have . Forgiving frees both the one par- rap (“Mozart hat Geburtstag Heut! Gluck Wunsch!”), com- doned and, more importantly, the forgiver from the cycle of plete with stomps, claps, finger snaps, and body percussion . retribution and retaliation so prevalent in our culture today . Representatives, myself included, then spoke about our Yet she acknowledged that thirst for retribution for offenses individual societies’ activities with the larger group . Like the big and small is difficult to overcome . (To access her entire Sächsische Mozart-Gesellschaft, many other Mozart associ- speech, go to: http://www .mozarteum .at/assets/files/Mozart- ations sponsor music-education programs aimed at youth . woche2018_Eva_Menasse_Vergebung_Vergeltung .pdf) This includes the Mozarteum itself . The coordinator of youth Her talk was framed by music from Mozart’s opera . Har- programs informed me that they now sponsor a youth or- moniemusik arrangements of the overture and the act-3 finale chestra in order to give younger students an opportunity of Die Entführung were performed on period wind instru- to play with an ensemble . As in much of the , ments by the Bläser der Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin . Austria also faces the problem of decreasing participation in Arias that had been arranged for string quartet in 1799 were music by middle-school students . The foundation and other also played . The ensemble that performed the latter included associations hope supporting youth will combat Mozart’s own and —a treat to hear . All the ar- that trend .

5 some of which were quite silly, by Mozart, Salieri, Michael Haydn, and Beethoven . Another young man demonstrated the Walter piano . On the top floor, a woman explained the differences between eighteenth-century and modern pia- nos . Other guides demonstrated eighteenth-century cooking utensils and techniques . There also were special activities for young children . The birthday event at the museum affirmed the fact that Mozart appeals to people of all ages and nationalities . Pri- marily German-speakers were in attendance, but I also heard visitors speaking French, English, Italian, Japanese, and other languages . It brought me great joy to see the museum so alive and so full of visitors . A new production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail in- augurated the festival’s concert series . Musical and dramatic liberties were taken, some of which enhanced the week’s Laurel Zeiss stands in front of the cabin where Mozart supposedly themes of cosmopolitanism and tolerance; others did not . A composed Die Zauberflöte Turkish crescent, additional percussion instruments, and a zimbalon were added to the period . A fortepiano Other Mozart communities reported that they sponsor fes- accompanied some of the dialogue; sometimes the pianist tivals, competitions, and concert series . The Mozart Society inserted snippets from other compositions by Mozart, in- of America appears to stress research and scholarly presen- cluding the “Turkish” Rondo, to comical effect . A “Turkish” tations more than most other groups, although the Japanese march by Michael Haydn was added as an entr’acte . Stage Gesellschaft also sponsors scholarly talks . Near the end of the director Andrea Moses altered and expanded the libretto to time for reports, a delegate from Bulgaria spoke passionately include verses from the Qu’ ran, Hafaz, and Goethe’s rumi- about the need to keep performing Mozart’s music and the nations about the connectedness of the East and West . The importance of preserving the classical music tradition . orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, led by con- The working session was followed by a reception adjacent ductor René Jacobs, was excellent . Certainly the additional to the courtyard where the small wooden cabin in which percussion, period woodwinds and trumpets, and the so- Mozart supposedly composed Die Zauberflöte now resides . prano recorder gave the score a different timbre . The singers Members of the Sächsische Gesellschaft provided live music were top-notch as well . as representatives mingled with one another . It was hard to know, however, what to make of Moses’s On Mozart’s birthday itself, the town and the Mozarteum staging, which veered between exaggerated comedy and seri- hosted a birthday celebration at Mozart’s birthplace . The ous political commentary . The production framed the entire square adjacent to the house was full well before 5:00 p .m . story as a film in progress . Cameramen onstage followed the Some people were sharing bottles of champagne as we waited principals and intermittently projected close-ups of the ac- for the festivities to commence . After a short speech, a huge tion . The Pasha was depicted as an exiled movie director who, birthday cake in the shape of the Mozarts’ house was cut as an opening film showed, was betrayed many years ago by and distributed to the crowd, which included Ambassador a colleague and a fickle actress; he then fled his homeland Villazón . A brass ensemble played various selections, in- by motorboat . The character’s entrance in act 1 resembled cluding Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer,” while folks waited in that of Nixon in Nixon in China . The Pasha arrived from on line for cake . (The cake was delicious—light chocolate with high and descended a steep flight of stairs amidst cavorting strawberry-jam filling and a coating of marzipan—worth the chorus members dressed like Emirates airlines stewardesses . wait!) At times Moses’s staging highlighted orientalist tropes (i .e ., Admission to the museum that evening was free to all . flying carpets, veils, references to belly dancing) . The char- Hundreds took advantage of the opportunity . The Mozarts’ acter Blonde was very sexualized, a fantasy of what Western former home was alive again with music . A quartet of young women are like, rather than a pert servant . men greeted visitors by singing a canon with the words “Viva The most extreme liberties were taken with the opera’s Wolfgangus Amadeo Mozart an deinem Geburtstag, alles ending . Mozart’s Masonic Funeral Music accompanied the Gute, alles Schöne ”. The quartet sang additional part-songs, Pasha’s final speech, during which he threatened to shoot the

6 four Westerners in the back of the head as they knelt in front Mozart’s Turkish Tattoo: Hybridity in of a wall . After berating the Europeans for their dishonesty Die Entführung aus dem Serail cloaked in high-minded platitudes, he commented that he thought he knew how this movie was going to end—with Adem Merter Birson “sweet revenge ”. But even though he “didn’t want to be the Good Person of the Bosphorus,” he announced, “The new film is called ‘Forgive us, Sir ’”. He concluded his speech, “You The concept of the exotic in Western music history often sentimental Westerners, I can’t bear you, but art demands it ”. assumes a Self-Other binary paradigm that does not wholly Then as if a rewind button had been hit, the action was re- reflect the lived reality of the historical subject . As much as played but with Stephanie’s original text and outcome . there can be said to exist a predominant culture of a partic- Was the point of incorporating film and filming that in- ular social group within a particular city, that culture also dividuals and governments have the opportunity to revise comprises a myriad of cultural groups, each one both con- their actions? To call attention to the gap between modern tributing and adapting to local taste . This situation was cer- movies and how Mozart’s opera ends? Or was it a critique of tainly true of eighteenth-century Vienna, where musicians sentimental ideas about the power of Mozart’s music and of of Western European backgrounds—such as Italians, French, art to effect social change? Whatever the goal, the produc- English, and Germans—and of non-Western ones—such as tion evoked strong reactions . During the curtain call, the Hungarian Gypsies, Russians, and Ottoman Turks—together audience heartily applauded the singers, the orchestra, and shaped the musical culture of the imperial capital . Each of the conductor, but vehemently booed the director and the these cultures found representation in a musical language designers . that was predicated on social play involving identity, mimicry, As mentioned above, Mozart’s Singspiel and works he and stereotype . The degree to which certain cultures could be encountered in 1782 served as a touchstone throughout the deemed exotic depends on levels of difference according to week . The Mozarteum’s librarians update the autograph-vault several factors, such as geography, language, religion, gender exhibit each year in conjunction with Mozartwoche’s overar- role, and social class; the greater the difference along these ching theme and main performances . This year the exhibit lines, the more the cultural observer—whether musician, art- included some of the famous letters about Die Entführung, ist, politician, or layperson—needed to fill in the conceptual which were a treat to see . A number of concerts also included gap with fantasy . These fantasies, furthermore, could run the fugues by J . S . Bach or Mozart’s arrangements of them . gamut from the horrifying to the morally edifying . I would encourage anyone who can to attend Mozart- For the composer, too, the greater the difference between woche, which is held each January around the composer’s the technical rules of the music, the more distorted the rep- birthday . In the few days I was there, I heard wonderful and resented musical culture became, as musicians had to mod- quite varied performances of Mozart’s music by pianist An- ify certain incompatible elements to suit the prevailing local drás Schiff, the English Baroque Soloists conducted by John style .1 In the case of “Turkish” music in Vienna, composers Eliot Gardiner, and the Schumann Quartet, a young up-and- approximated the melodic and rhythmic modes of the Ot- coming string quartet based in Germany . Next year’s festival toman Janissary band, the mehter, with reduced harmonic will again focus on “Mozart’s spirit of communion, togeth- texture, sprightly ornaments, arabesque turn figures, and a erness and integration ”. Ambassador Villazón also promises duple march rhythm . Perhaps most characteristic, however, that Mozart “the playful . . . endearing jester” will be in evi- was the imitation of the davul (bass drum), zil (cymbal), cev- dence . For more information, go to: http://www .mozarteum . gen (jangling crescent), and zurna (reed horn) in the Western at/en/concerts/mozart-week .html . orchestra with timpani, cymbals, triangle, and piccolo . The resulting alla turca style was, therefore, Turkish militaristic music—to which Vienna was widely exposed during the two Ottoman sieges (1529 and 1683)—filtered through the tech- nique of the eighteenth-century galant style . Alla turca music was already known to Vienna by the time of Mozart’s composition of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K . 384 (1781) . Christoph Willibald Gluck’s La rencontre im- prévue (1764) and ’s Italian adaptation of the same work, L’incontro improvviso (1775), both use the style in their respective overtures to depict the libretto’s setting in

7 Cairo 2. Mozart almost certainly studied these works as prepa- So, by the Prophet’s beard, ration for his own composition, for he rendered the Janissary day and night, I’ll search orchestration a central component not only of the overture, without resting to have you put to death, but also many of the subsequent numbers of Entführung .3 no matter how careful you are . Gluck and Haydn, therefore, had established the prototype for composing on a Turkish subject for the Viennese theater Allegro assai [enter “Turkish” music] in the decades before Mozart’s arrival from Salzburg, by which First beheaded, then hanged, then impaled on hot spikes, point the Viennese audience would likely have expected the burned, then bound, “Turkish” orchestra and its representative alla turca style to and drowned, and finally flayed . have accompanied it . The impact of this style depended on elements both authentic and adapted for local consumption . To achieve maximum effect, Mozart and Stephanie exagger- In a letter to his father dated September 26, 1781, Mozart ate those elements of Turkish identity that were incompatible explicitly described his engagement with the “Turkish” style with the worldview of the eighteenth-century Enlightened in Entführung . The portions of this letter devoted to Osmin’s European 6. The resulting character is a parody based on cul- act-1 aria, “Solche hergelauf’ne Laffen,” have perhaps received tural difference so pronounced that is at once horrible and the most scholarly attention on account of their descriptions comic; to see it otherwise is to not get the joke .7 The wrath ex- of the psychology of the opera’s primary antagonist: pressed in the allegro assai is so overstated that it renders the list of execution methods preposterous: first beheaded, then Osmin’s rage is rendered comical by the accompaniment hanged, etc . Yet to view the excess of Osmin’s fury entirely of Turkish music . . . . The passage Drum,“ beim Barte des as a byproduct of his Turkish identity is, in my view, to do Propheten” [So, by the Prophet’s beard] is indeed in the disservice to his role . Falling far off the spectrum of decency, same tempo, but with quick notes; but as Osmin’s rage Osmin’s central character flaw—his rage—resembles in its gradually increases, there comes (just when the aria seems dramatic function the vengeance of the Queen of the Night to be at an end) the allegro assai, which is in a totally dif- and the lust of ; Mozart similarly banishes all ferent measure and in a different key; this is bound to be three villians from the stage at the end of their respective op- very effective . For just as a man in such a towering rage eras . oversteps all the bounds of order, moderation and pro- Largely on account of Osmin, many analyses of Entführung priety and completely forgets himself, so must the music have engaged with Edward Said’s Orientalism (and post-colo- too forget itself . But as passions, whether violent or not, nial literary theory) in order to critique the European Self-vs -. must never be expressed in such a way as to excite disgust, Exotic-Other dynamic in this opera .8 Within this framework, and as music, even in the most terrible situations, must the imagined Orient exists only to reaffirm the values of the never offend the ear, but must please the hearer, or in other superior West . As Matthew Head argues, “Osmin’s ‘towering words must never cease to be music, I have gone from F rage’ functions as an antithesis through which ‘order, moder- (the key in which the aria is written), not to a remote key, ation, and propriety’ are defined ”. 9 While this observation is but into a related one, not however, into its nearest relative accurate, its reliance on the binary orientalist model—West- D minor, but into the more remote A minor 4. ern vs . Eastern, Christianity vs . Islam, Self vs . Other—can also reinforce those very categories and their implied hier- In this remarkable account, Mozart limits his definition of archy . Daniel Martin Varisco writes, “Rather than offering “Turkish” music to the entrances of the Janissary band, as an alternative synthesis to binary thinking, Said’s polemic at the start of the allegro assai . In spite of this strict param- rides the oppositional wave of antithesis ”. 10 In this way, ori- eter, Mozart throughout the opera emphasizes the elements entalist logic often reads Western representation of an exotic of Osmin’s character that distinguish him from Europeans, musical style through marked musical techniques, including including geography (a palace in the Mediterranean), ethnic- oversimplified harmony, unusual repetition, odd rhythms, ity (Turkish costume, music), and religion (Islam), through strange ornaments, as a one-to-one correlation with essen- a variety of means both musical and contextual 5. The aria tialized deficiency in European ideals: irrationality, predis- text—which Mozart himself requested that librettist Gottlieb position toward violence, sexual depravity, etc . It is from this Stephanie include—betrays a stereotypical mistrust of Euro- perspective that Mary Hunter defines the eighteenth-century peans on the part of the Muslim Turk: alla turca style:

8 2 Die Entführung Thealla turca style in relation to actual Janissary music . . . Allegro . . œ. . . . . œ œ œ. . Flauto piccolo 2 œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ represents Turkish music as a deficient or messy version in Sol/G & b 4 of European music rather than as a phenomenon with its f I, II œ œ œ œ own terms of explication and reference . The representa- & 42 Œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ tion of the Other in terms defined completely by the pre- f sumed norm of the familiar is a colonialist and patriarchal Clarinetto I, II 2 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ in Do/C & 4 Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ strategy described by many writers; alla turca style is yet f œ œ œ œ œœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ another instance of the way larger social and political ide- Fagotto I, II ? 2 Œ 11 4 ologies can be encoded in the “music itself ”. f Figure 1 . Die Entführung aus dem Serail, No . 5b, “Chor der Janit- Flauto piccolo This negative reading of the alla turca style, however, speaksin Sol/Gscharen,”& b mm∑ . 42–47∑ . ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ to the larger difficulties within orientalism as a post-colonial Oboe I, II discourse; it exacerbates difference and denies the possi- Aside& from∑ military∑ battles,∑ the∑ long∑ history∑ of diplomacy∑ ∑ bility of cultural exchange . The exotic interpretation of the between the Ottomans and Habsburgs presents an opportu- Viennese “Turkish” music in Entführung should not by deClarinetto- nity I, II to see the alla turca as a cultural hybrid . As Larry Wolff in Do/C & ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ fault assume the inferiority of this represented music and its puts it, the border between the neighboring empires was culture . Yet this often bears itself out in analysis, frequentlyFagotto “militarized I, II ? ∑ and sometimes∑ ∑ belligerent∑ ∑ but∑ also permeable∑ ∑ in ways whereby the critic supplies the deficiency narrative in peacetime and conducive to a certain intimacy ”. 16 Otto- themselves . Timothy Taylor, for instance, writes of the act-1 man Janissary bands were indeed present in European capi- Janissary chorus (fig . 1): tals throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on account of the diplomatic embassies located there .17 The eth- Note how Mozart, while offering Janissary music, at the nomusicologist Karl Signell writes, same time emphasizes its difference by its very metrical duplicity: the opening of the chorus begins on an upbeat The Sultans soon recognized the impressiveness of the Ja- that sounds like a downbeat, then another upbeat down- nissary music and in peacetime often sent a small Turkish beat ambiguity . . . such a gesture also has comic overtones, band with their envoys to various European capitals . In as though the chorus starts off on the wrong foot 12. turn, the European monarchs were so pleased with these new sounds that they began to send their bandmasters to Taylor’s analysis begins with an empirical observation re- Istanbul to learn the secrets of Janissary music . They were garding Mozart’s representation of a “Turkish” meter within not as interested in the actual melodies or rhythms as in a Western musical idiom . However, Taylor’s subsequent the vigorous spirit and colorful instrumentation 18. “wrong footed” commentary reveals a bias towards reading inherent irrationality in Mozart’s janissaries: their presumed In fact, the years of decline in Ottoman power following the inability to find the downbeat . second failed siege of Vienna coincided with a rise in replica Other post-colonial critics, notably Homi K . Bhabha, have Janissary bands performing at festivals throughout courts focused on the potential for cultural exchange between the in Western Europe, even extending into Russia 19. In one in- colonizer and colonized, an interchange of influence and stance, August, the newly crowned King of Poland, enjoyed ideas that manifests itself in hybridity 13. For Bhabha, culture masquerading as the leader of his own “Janissary” unit during does not derive from an unchangeable essence—as the Self- festivals at his court . Following the Treaty of Kar- Other model implies—but rather is characterized by change, lowitz (1699), the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV, aware of Au- flux, and transformation . Bhabha’s hybridity, therefore, estab- gust’s appreciation for Janissary music, presented him with lishes a “Third Space,” a middle ground where the colonial- the gift of a complete mehter band .20 As a result, the music of ist power structure is momentarily leveled and cultural play, the mehter, in both real and replicated forms, was commonly called mimicry, can take place 14. Hybridity, however, cannot heard in Europe throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth ultimately overcome the colonial hierarchy, as the colonized centuries . This was responsible for altering the European or- must never completely be allowed to assimilate into the dom- chestra to include Janissary elements when depicting Turkish inant culture; or, as Bhabha puts it, “not quite, not white ”. 15 themes and in other, non-Turkish, contexts as well . Nevertheless, the idea of a hybrid “Third Space” softens the In addition to the Janissary orchestra, the abduction plot rigid barriers of post-colonialist discourse and opens the way provides ample room for considering Entführung as a prod- to conceptualizing cultural products in a new light . uct of ongoing cultural exchange rather than self-serving ex-

9 oticism . The characters of Pasha Selim, revealed at the end to clearly by a theme in the bassoon, doubled in the , and it be a former Christian, and Konstanze, a Westerner brought concludes with a spirited codetta before the entrance of Bel- to live as a slave in the harem, both represent European re- monte’s music in the development section . Though marked tellings of stories based on actual historical figures . Ottoman with signifiers of Turkishness, such as the Janissary orches- corsairs, perhaps most famously Turgut Reis (1485–1565), tra, repeating eighth notes, and ornaments, this can hardly dominated the Mediterranean Sea by raiding coastal villages be described as deficient Western music; on the contrary, it and taking Christian slaves 21. There are countless stories of is a fully functional “Turkish” sonata form 24. The aforemen- families broken apart by this practice, known as devşirme, tioned upbeat of the Janissary theme in the chorus, far from whereby captured young women were placed into harems and being flawed, is true to the energetic spirit ofmehter music . young men into the military . Some of these men went on to The rhythm of the Janissary march is present in this chorus, have spectacular political careers within the Ottoman palace . as is the ornamented escape-note figure so common in the Ibrahim Pasha (1495–1536), for example, was a Venetian who Turkish ornamental style . Yet the chorus is also a polyphonic, became Suleiman the Magnificent’s Grand Vizier, a title given four-part composition in ABA form with complete harmonic to the sultan’s chief political and military strategist . Hürrem progressions and fugato passages in the B section, which be- Sultan (1502–58), known also in European lore as Roxelane, gins in measure 42 . Both the overture and the chorus, there- was likewise a Christian slave who converted to Islam and fore, represent a hybrid of Turkish and European musical married Suleiman, effectively becoming queen-like in power, elements . and bore the eventual successor to the Ottoman throne, Se- Mozart describes his Turkish tattoo, however, specifically lim . Konstanze’s role in Entführung, that of the “triumphant in the context of the “drunken duet” of act 2 . In it, Pedrillo s u lt an a ,” 22 can potentially be read as a European corrective to attempts to trick Osmin into getting so drunk that he falls the biography of Hürrem: the former’s resistance to Ottoman asleep, thereby allowing the European characters to escape . authority contrasts with the latter’s assimilation . The duet is controversial, for it satirizes one of the main te- In spite of the political overtones of Entführung, it is pos- nets of the Islamic faith: abstention from alcohol . Osmin is sible to consider that there were aspects of Turkish military about to drink when he pauses and remembers Allah in an music that Europeans actually admired 23. Later on in the anxious moment expressed with a C-sharp diminished triad above-quoted letter to his father, Mozart wrote, resolving to a D-minor chord . When Osmin takes a sip, his line is accompanied by dissonance in the winds, indicating I have sent you only fourteen bars of the overture, which his drunkenness . Osmin innocently gives the European style is very short with alternate fortes and pianos, the Turkish a chance, and he sings Pedrillo’s tune, a hybrid and irreverent music always coming in at the fortes . The overture modu- Janissary march in praise of Bacchus, the god of wine . Pe- lates through several different keys; and I doubt whether drillo then joins Osmin, and they for the first time sing the anyone, even if his previous night has been a sleepless one, same tune (fig . 2) . Here, the Turkish music is used to great could go to sleep over it . Now comes the rub! The first act dramatic effect, assuming several meanings at once . The was finished more than three weeks ago, as was also one meter and style of alla turca entice Osmin to the stage and aria in Act II and the drunken duet (per i signori viennesi) enables him to feel comfortable enough to drink with Pe- which consists entirely of my Turkish tattoo . drillo . For Mozart’s part, his Turkish tattoo does his bidding, and he is able to mercilessly mock Osmin by assuming the The term tattoo refers to a public display of the Janissary band command of the latter’s musical style, an aspect that certainly like what would have occurred outside the Turkish embassy would have ingratiated him to the Viennese audience . in Vienna . Mozart’s use of the possessive in his letter indi- This final image of Mozart as the leader of a Janissary band cates that Turkish music can no longer be considered only a perhaps best encapsulates the notion of hybridity . In his use marker of difference, but also a central part of his own com- of the then recently established alla turca style for his op- positional identity . Thus, Mozart resembles King August at era, Mozart was participating in a form of cultural play that Dresden, leading his spirited Turkish troops in concert in an represented Turkish music adapted for performance by lo- attempt to impress his Viennese public . cal musicians and to suit local taste . This would suggest that Indeed, the Janissary music in the overture and the chorus the eighteenth-century Viennese musical world was not as exhibits many hallmarks of the Viennese style . The overture culturally pure as the exoticism model implies . Rather, Vi- is in a complete sonata form in C major, cut time, including ennese music comprised several products of cultural inter- use of a “purple patch” in C minor to dramatize the transition action and exchange with groups both domestic and foreign . to the second key . The second key, G major, is introduced Rather than viewing the Turkish music under the rubric of

10 4 Die Entführung

ad libitum U U 4 . LMF, vol . 3, 1143–46 . Pedr. #œ œ œ œ œ. rK j V J ≈ R J J R œ œ Œ ∑ ∑ ∑ 5 . Ralph Locke, Music and the Exotic from the Renaissance to Mo- Ah! das heiß' ich Göt - ter - trank!. zart (: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 26 . ad libitum U 6 . Nicholas Till, Mozart and the Enlightenment: Truth, Virtue and Osmin œ œ œ œ œ. U œ œ œ ? J ≈ R J J œ œ œ œ œ J œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Beauty in Mozart’s Operas (New York: Norton, 1992), 108–11 . R ÔR J J J J œ Ah! das heiß' ich Göt - ter-trank! Vi - vat - Bac-chus! Bac - chus le - be! Bac - chus, der den Wein er - 7 . For a similar definition of parody in literary criticism, see M . U Vc. e B. ˙ U M . Bakhtin, “From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse,” ? œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ in The Dialogic Imagination—Four Essays by M. M. Bakhtin, fp p Michael Holquist, ed ., Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist, f trans . (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981), 75–76 . Pedr. j j j œ œ œ j V Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ J œ œ œ J J œ œ œ Œ Vi - vat BacJ - chus! Bac - chus le - be!J BacJ - chusJ der den Wein erJ - fand! 8 . Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage, 1979) . 9 . Matthew Head, Orientalism, Masquerade, and Mozart’s Turkish œ f œ œ Music (London: Royal Music Association, 2000), 3 . Osmin ? œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ J J œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ 10 . Daniel Martin Varisco, Reading Orientalism: Said and the Un- fand! Vi - vat Bac - chus! Bac - chus leJ - be!J Bac - chus der den Wein er - fand! said (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007), 51 . Vc. e B. ? œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ 11 . Mary Hunter, “TheAlla Turca Style in the Late Eighteenth f Century,” in The Exotic in Western Music, ed . Jonathan Bellman Figure 2 . Die Entführung aus dem Serail, No . 14, “Vivat Bacchus! (: Northeastern University Press, 1998), 51 . Bacchus lebe!” mm . 57–66 . 12 . Timothy D . Taylor, Beyond Exoticism (Durham, NC: Duke Uni- versity Press, 2007), 59 . 13 . Homi K . Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London: Routledge, exoticism, hybridity allows the critic, at least in part, to view 1994), 2 . the Turkish tattoo as a form of cultural exchange that Mozart 14 . Bhabha, 37–38 . fully embodies; Self and Other, if only momentarily, merge . 15 . Bhabha, 85–92 . 16 . Larry Wolff,The Singing Turk: Ottoman Power and Operatic Emotions on the European Stage from the Siege of Vienna to the Adem Merter Birson is Adjunct Assistant Age of Napoleon (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016), 3 . Professor of Music at Hofstra University. Af- 17 . Fatma Müge Göçek, East Encounters West: France and the Otto- ter earning his doctorate in Musicology from man Empire in the Eighteenth Century (New York: Oxford Uni- (2015), Dr. Birson served as versity Press, 1987) . Director of the Conservatory at Ipek Univer- 18 . Karl Signell, “Mozart and the Mehter,” Turkish Music Quarterly 1, no . 1 (Summer 1988), 12 . sity, in Ankara, Turkey. He is a performer of 19 . Edmund A . Bowles, “The Impact of Turkish Military Bands on the piano and the Turkish oud. European Court Festivals in the 17th and 18th Centuries,” Early Music 34, no . 4 (November 2006), 533–59 . 20 . Bowles, 546–48 . notes 21 . Ferdinand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, 2 vols ., trans . Siân Reynolds (New I would like to thank Paul Corneilson, Edmund Goehring, York: Harper & Row, 1973) . Christopher Lynch, and the members of the Mozart Society 22 . For a historical survey of the triumphant sultana archetype, see of America in attendance at the 2017 “Mozart and Moder- Wolff,Singing Turk, 79–104 . nity” Conference for their words of support regarding the 23 . Eric Rice, “Representations of Janissary Music (Mehter) as Mu- paper version of this essay . I would also like to thank Philip sical Exoticism in Western Compositions, 1670–1824,” Journal of Musicological Research 19 (1999), 41–88 . Stoecker, Chandler Carter, James Webster, and Catherine 24 . For a similar take on Haydn’s overture to L’incontro improvviso, Mayes for their comments on earlier drafts . see Rice, 67–69 .

1 . For a discussion of adapting exotic style to local taste, see Catherine Mayes, “Reconsidering an Early Exoticism: Vien- nese Adaptations of Hungarian-Gypsy Music Around 1800,” Eighteenth-Century Music 6, no . 2 (September 2009), 161–81 . 2 . Bruce Alan Brown, Gluck and the French Theatre in Vienna (Ox- ford: Clarendon Press, 1991); and Matthew Head, “Interpreting ‘Abduction’ Opera: Haydn’s L’incontro improvviso, Sovereignty and the Eszterház Festival of 1775,” TheMA 1, no . 1 (2012), http:// www .thema-journal .eu/ . 3 . Thomas Bauman,W. A. Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 62–71 .

11 ing recording of English translations performed by Robert Levin . Other Mo- Recording Review (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a Dirty zart arrangements are less consequen- Old Man, Epic), also issued in 1967, are tial to understanding his development historical firsts . The subsequent Philips as a composer-performer, but Carl Frie- Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition. and Brilliant recordings of many of drich Abel’s E-flat Symphony, K . 18, with 200 compact discs . London: Decca the same pieces are unashamedly pol- clarinets and bassoon still intrigues me . and , 2016 . ished versions, equaled by the Mozart Nicholas Ward’s CD modernizes Erich 225 selections . These chips from the Leinsdorf’s world-premiere symphony master’s workshop are miniature con- set that both include ’s Private Music, Fragments, trapuntal masterpieces, exploring the K . 17 and Abel’s K . 18 . Arrangements, and Doubtful Works gamut of funny, obscene, wistful, and CDs 182–87 contain Mozart’s ar- For all of us, especially the Mozart-ob- even religious texts . rangements of G . F . Handel’s Acis and sessed, happy victims of advanced The fascinating fragments and Galatea, K . 566 (Christopher Hogwood “Mozartophilia,” the final thirty CDs of sketches (plus discoveries and curios) and the Boston Handel and Haydn So- Mozart 225 are a treasure trove of mi- present many of the numerous aborted ciety), , K . 572 (Charles Mack- nor gems, fragments, his arrangements attempts by Mozart . To listen to them erras), Alexander’s Feast, K . 591, and the of his and others’ music, completions, is to follow Mozart’s musical thinking, Ode to St. Cecilia, K . 592 (both by Hog- and dubia . My piece of the collection with the shock of a mid-thought break . wood and the BHHS) . The Hogwood re- included recordings in the following (Why the substantial Credo fragment cordings are excellent, chosen over the categories: Private Music (CDs 171–73), to the Mass in C Major, K . 337, has various , Peter Schreier, Fragments (CDs 174–75), Completions never been included in any fragments , and Christoph Sper- (CDs 176–78), Arrangements (CDs collection is a mystery .) Certainly, the ing versions . Mackerras’s is the first (and 179–87), Self-Arrangements (CDs world-premiere recording of Mozart’s better) of the two versions he made and 188–93), and Doubtful Works (CDs all-too-brief contribution “Quell’ag- has the added interest of keeping Mo- 194–200) . The sixty-year chronological neletto candido” to La Storace’s can- zart’s “slip of the pen” (or musical joke?) range of the recordings in this group— tata Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia, in the final cadence of the chorus “And from the 1956 birth bicentennial to the KA11a/477a, would have been more sat- the glory ”. Mozart scored his winds in a 225th death anniversary in 2016—is a isfying had the entire three-composer dominant-to-tonic cadence, simultane- judicious and thoughtful retrospective piece been included . ously with Handel’s original strings and of Mozart performances—some old, Considering fragments leads us nat- chorus subdominant-to-tonic cadence . some new, some borrowed, and even urally to completions . These high-qual- CDs 188–90 are Mozart’s German some blue pieces . With so great an em- ity performing editions have been con- version of , K . 196 . barras de richesses, only a superficial tributed by editor/scholars from shortly Schmidt-Isserstedt gives us a Gärtnerin summary is possible . after Mozart’s death up to the present aus Liebe as Mozart designed it, the most The Private Music portion of the day . Ingenious solutions from the Abbé extensive arrangement of all his operas . set includes lieder, Masonic music, Stadler and Simon Sechter began a long CD 191 is the Harmoniemusik from and canons and part songs . The lie- tradition for many who delight in wres- Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K . 384, der span Mozart’s compositional arc, tling with the problems of editing and which should, perhaps, be included with from the charming simplicity of “An “composing” Mozart . This traditionthe dubia, since Mozart’s authorship is die Freude,” K . 53, to the masterful continues from Ernst Reichert to Erik not proven . The arrangement is almost later lieder, including “Sehnsucht nach Smith (Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt’s son), a new piece, a magisterial reworking or dem Frühlinge,” K . 596 . A few lieder Robert Levin, Franz Beyer, and Philip recomposition based on the themes, are given in alternative versions with Wilby—all of whom have enriched our quite unlike arrangements by Johann pianoforte . Masonic music includes Mozart libraries . Wendt, Josef Triebensee, and other ex- the vocal music, the immortal Trau- The still-piquant Leopold-Wolfgang pert wind arrangers of Mozart’s operas . ermusik, K . 477/479a, and the wind arrangements of keyboard sonatas by Bastiaan Blomhert has convinced most Adagios thought to have been used in Hermann Friedrich Raupach, Leontzi of us that the Donaueschingen manu- the rituals . The 1967 Vienna Academy Honauer, Johann Schobert, Johann script preserves a truly Mozartian mir- recording of Mozart’s part songs (22 Gottfried Eckard, C . P . E . Bach, and J . C . acle, here performed by the wonderful Canons, Westminster) and the amus- Bach as keyboard concerti are brilliantly Amadeus Winds . On a par with the

12 Harmoniemusik is Mozart’s equally music, helping to remind us just how Italian Operas brilliant arrangement of the Serenade astonishing it is that this work was cre- in C Minor, K . 388, as a string quintet The Italian opera recordings in the Mo- ated by a fourteen-year-old boy . And it (K . 406) . The Piano Concertos Nos . zart 225 collection encompass thirteen gives the lie to the old claim that by the 11–13, K . 413–15, are heard on CD 192 works (if we throw in the Latin interme- later eighteenth-century opera seria was as Mozart’s alternate chamber versions dio , K . 38), not in- a dying genre, shackled by convention- for piano quintet . Peter Frankl’s record- cluding the two fragmentary operas of ality and devoid of excitement . ings prove that Mozart was right—the the early 1780s, L’oca del Cairo, K . 422, Turning to the recordings of the works are equally fine either as intimate and Lo sposo deluso, K . 430/424a . There mature Italian operas, one finds a com- chamber music or as large-scale public are eight early works (from Apollo of pletely different situation . With these music . 1767 through Il re pastore, K . 208, of works there is a wealth of recorded per- The final seven CDs of dubia are 1775), and the five acknowledged ma- formances to choose from, and only the divided into chamber, orchestral, the- ture masterpieces: the three Da Ponte brief L’oca del Cairo and Lo sposo deluso atre, and sacred and song . The chamber operas and the great opere serie Idome- are the recordings from the works include the much-argued Flute neo, K . 366, and La clemenza di Tito, K . 1991 Philips set . Each of the five mature Quartet in G Major, K . 285a, and the 621 . operas is led by a different conductor . five Divertimenti for three basset horns, Mozart’s earlier Italian operas are All of the performances here are excel- KV . 439b . The orchestral works give us best considered as a group in them- lent, and any of them would be a wel- a bouquet of Pinnock with the English selves: they are not repertory works, come addition to a Mozart-lover’s col- Concert and with the unlike the later ones, and they have lection . But would any of these become Academy of St . Martin in the Fields not been recorded dozens of times . So one’s favorite, go-to performance? performing symphonies that may well it is unsurprising that most of the re- One candidate might be the 1987 Le not be by Mozart but are certainly en- cordings of those works in the Mozart nozze di Figaro, K . 492, of Arnold Öst- tertaining examples of galant works 225 collection are older . In fact, seven man, leading the Drottningholm Court -from the 1760s and 1770s . Te theatre, of the eight can also be found in the Theatre Orchestra . There are other re sacred, and song dubia are indicative “complete” Mozart set issued by Philips cordings with perhaps more passionate of the whole collection’s superb quality . in 1991 . These include five operas per- intensity, but I have always loved this Even these “doubtful” vocal works are formed by Leopold Hager and the Mo- one . It is beautifully played and sung, given wonderful performances, espe- zarteum-Orchestra Salzburg, in record- above all by Barbara Bonney, whose cially those involving the Leipzig forces ings that all date back to the 1970s or Susanna is a bit cool and yet absolutely under Herbert Kegel . early 1980s, as well as Peter Schreier’s ravishing . Still better is the first-rate To sum up this piece of the Mozart , K . 51, with the C . P . Idomeneo by with 225 collection, the adage “something E . Bach Chamber Orchestra and Nev- the English Baroque Soloists, recorded old, something new, something bor- ille Marriner’s Il re pastore, both from live in 1990 . It is hard to imagine a more rowed, something blue” seems appro- around 1990 . The only newcomer is Mi- satisfying recording of this opera . Gar- priate: old, valued recordings, quite tridate, re di Ponto, K . 87/74a, recorded diner’s performance is intense and dra- new ones, Mozart’s borrowings from in 1998 by Christophe Rousset and his matic, not surprisingly, featuring great himself and other contemporaries, and period-instrument orchestra Les Talens singing as well as outstanding choral even something blue—the scatological Lyriques . work—listen to the high-speed clarity canons and songs . Thus, Mozart re- All of these performances are very of the chorus in the dramatic ending mains universal and all-encompassing good, with excellent singing and or- of act 2 . But the opera’s quieter mo- even in these smaller or less-import- chestral playing . That said, the older ments are equally impressive: Gardiner ant works . Some doubtful works may Hager recordings are the least reward- achieves a gentleness and delicacy that someday prove to be Mozart’s own; the ing, though they are still pleasing: both are very moving . This is simply the best others still continue to receive loving in terms of sound quality and inter- Idomeneo I have heard . performances just because they might pretation they are a bit bland and re- Unlike Östman’s and Gardiner’s, the be Mozart’s . strained . At the other extreme is Rous- other performances of Mozart’s mature —Murl Sickbert set’s intense and exciting performance Italian operas are with modern-in- of Mitridate, which is a joy to listen to . strument orchestras: Yannick Nézet- It fully brings to life Mozart’s stunning Séguin’s Don Giovanni, K . 527, with

13 the (from are terrific . But for those with a substan- of the collection, these discs include a 2011), ’s Così fan tutte, K . tial collection of Mozart recordings— “Classic Performances” CD, which pays 588, with the Chamber Orchestra of Eu- and in an era when streaming services homage to earlier recordings, and two rope (recorded in 1994), and La clem- make access to most of the recordings “Supplementary Performances” discs, enza di Tito by and in existence a relatively simple matter— one of which features performances the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (from the standards are necessarily higher . on period instruments and the other 2005) . Each of these performances has Aside from completeness—which may arias sung by important performers . It its virtues: perhaps most notably the be the most important factor, even for must have been a bit difficult to choose Mackerras Clemenza, which is bright, those who have a lot of Mozart in their whom to put on which CD . After all, colorful, and exciting—it also comes collections—the chief appeal of Mozart why would a performance by Montser- the closest to the lightness and clarity 225 will surely be the outstanding per- rat Caballé (b . 1933), for example, be on of a period-instruments recording . The formances that people do not already a “Supplementary” CD and not under Don Giovanni benefits from a beauti- own . For the Italian operas, those are “Classic performances” together with fully sung Leporello by Luca Pisaroni, above all Rousset’s Mitridate and Gar- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b . 1925) and but unfortunately Ildebrando D’Ar- diner’s Idomeneo, recordings that com- (b . 1930)? My guess is cangelo as Giovanni has a voice that is municate respectively the precocious that this was determined by whether a too big for the role . While he controls brilliance of the teenage composer and person is still alive as well as some con- it skillfully, the result is a bit like hear- the stunning genius of the young man sideration of how much a voice is still ing a Mozart piano sonata played on a of twenty-four, reveling in his own present in the collective imagination nine-foot Bösendorfer, with the per- powers and enjoying, as Constanze (compare to ) . former working hard not to overpower testified many years later, the happiest On a practical note, it is a little diffi- the music . times of his life . cult to navigate the collection when one The Mozart 225 set includes access —John Platoff is working with multiple CDs . As I was to clear, easy-to-read presentations of listening to and continuously switching all the librettos of these works, pre- out CDs in my player, I always had to sented in German, Italian, English, and go back to the relevant sleeve to look up German Operas French . They are accessible with a pass- where I was . The next level, or even the word either as PDFs on a computer, or I have enjoyed listening to the Ger- next two levels of headings could have via an app for mobile phone . man-language opera portions of the appeared on the disc itself just as they In evaluating the Mozart 225 collec- Mozart 225 collection that include a few do on the sleeve . The text “Arias and tion—whether in terms of the Italian additional arias and concert and in- Scenes” and then “Concert Arias (1781– opera recordings or as a whole—one sertion arias as well as the less famous 1791)” on CD 146, would have been useful approach is to consider its poten- operas and fragments . These CDs are helpful, if perhaps less elegant-looking tial audience . There are certainly a lot of well-curated and include many out- on the disc . Mozart-lovers who already own record- standing choices, and while we may The recording ofDie Zauberflöte, K . ings of many of these works . There may all have quibbles with certain selec- 620, has much to recommend it: Clau- be others—perhaps not as many—who tions here or there, I think we can all dio Abbado’s interpretation is striking love the music of Mozart but own few feel comfortable agreeing that this is a from the start in that the opening chords recordings of his music and want them wide-ranging and nuanced presenta- are stately and perfectly in time (after on CD . And there are libraries, which tion of Mozart’s work . all, the fermatas are over the rests), and are in the business of making the com- I like the recordings of some of the they lack the ponderousness of many, plete works of great artists available to less famous operas, such as , K . even recent interpretations . The rest their patrons . 344/336b (recorded in 1973), and Bas- of the overture is played at breakneck For the second and third of these tien und Bastienne, K . 50/46b (recorded speed—perhaps too fast for some—at groups, Mozart 225 offers a fantastic in 1986), but they are quite dated . It just over six minutes, but it made me bargain: 200 CDs of excellent perfor- would have been nice to include newer recall Paul Moseley’s introduction to mances (not to mention the accompa- versions of at least some of the numbers, the collection, in which Abbado is con- nying books and other materials) for but I imagine there were probably bud- sidered to be an artist “straddling both less than $700 . All the recordings of the getary concerns . CDs 147–49 were par- worlds” of earlier interpretative styles Italian operas are very good, and a few ticularly interesting . Like other portions and more historically informed per-

14 formance, thus bringing a synthesis of wonderful voice and more in John Eliot begin with some numbers: The cham- the two . This is one of the larger aims Gardiner’s rather rigid interpretation . ber music discs represent nearly one of the collection, and to my ears it has For Die Entführung aus dem Serail, quarter of Mozart 225 (approximately achieved this worthy goal, particularly K . 384, the producers of the collection equal to the proportion of the box set if one can shelve the need to exclusively took a different approach, using a re- devoted to orchestral music or to the- listen to historically authentic instru- cording of Christopher Hogwood with atrical music) . The discs are organized ments . The orchestra and Abbado are the for by ensemble size, and within these thoroughly dramatic and fascinating to the complete opera and supplement- categories they are ordered roughly listen to for the entire work . Since sing- ing it with two more recent and two chronologically by composition date . ers’ voices can be so drastically different classic offerings: Anna Prohaska’s live The first ten discs present solo works: from one another, it seems particularly performance of “Durch Zärtlichkeit mostly piano sonatas, variations, and useful that, at least for a few numbers, und Schmeicheln” and Cheryl Studer’s fantasias (but also other music, includ- there are multiple recordings, so that of “Martern aller Arten” were worth ing juvenilia and “study” pieces such as the collection can offer, as Moseley puts a switch over to the “Supplementary modulating preludes and the Suite in C it, “a more varied listening experience ”. Performances” CD just for the chance Major, K . 399/385i) . Discs 11–20 cover You can, for example, listen to three to hear fuller voices that have such duo compositions, mostly piano duets versions of Tamino’s “Dies Bildnis ist command over the technical and ex- and accompanied piano sonatas (i .e ., bezaubernd schön”: the aforemen- pressive demands of these arias . For “ sonatas”) . String trios and piano tioned 2005 recording of the com- Belmonte, Uwe Heilmann does some trios (including the Trio in E-flat Major plete opera with Abbado and Chris- sensitive work on the recording with for Piano, Clarinet, and Viola “Kegel- toph Strehl as Tamino (CD 137), Jonas Hogwood, particularly on “Hier soll ich statt,” K . 498) occupy just three discs Kaufmann also with Abbado from 2009 denn sehen,” but for “Wenn der Freude (20–22) . Quartets (including those (CD 148), and Wunderlich, conducted Tränen fließen,” Wunderlich’s rendition with piano, oboe, or flute) make up by Karl Böhm in 1964 (CD 149) . All on the Classic Performances CD is the discs 23–30, whereas quintets (includ- three have exceptional voices, of one that, to me, features more vocal nu- ing those with piano, winds, or glass that there is no doubt, so one has the ance and best captures the emotions of harmonica) appear on discs 31–34 . And luxury to be picky . For my taste, Strehl this delicate aria . finally, compositions for six or more rushes through the written-out orna- Amazon is out of stock right now, players—mostly wind music, including ments of the aria and is not as sensitive but if you have the money for it or can divertimenti, serenades, and marches— to the color changes that the text de- convince your library to buy it, then the appear on discs 35–39 . mands, suddenly sounding excessively collection would be a good investment, The remaining ten discs offer “sup- heroic, for example, on the last “ewig” particularly when you consider that the plementary performances” of select of the famous phrase “und ewig wäre price per disc amounts to about $2 .67 . works . These are designated as “peri- sie dann mein” (and then she would be —Lisa de Alwis od-instrument” performances (CDs mine forever) . Kaufman sounds per- 40–44), “classic” performances (CDs haps more authentically passionate if 45–48), or “historic” performances sometimes a little pressed . These two (CD 49) . Several period recordings Chamber Music more recent recordings are both faster feature Mozart’s own instruments, in- than Wunderlich’s . How wonderful that “Chamber music” is construed here cluding the first commercial recording Wunderlich is well-represented in the more or less in the modern sense: in- made on his Costa violin, believed to collection—I am not sure how many strumental music performed with one be the violin Mozart used during his non-German speakers are aware of his player per part, but solo-keyboard mu- Vienna years (and which was recently sublime voice . His approach naturally sic is also included in this section . Vo- bequeathed to the Mozarteum Founda- seems to be more about expressing the cal chamber music, spurious composi- tion) . The designation “classic” refers to content of the text rather than his vocal tions, and Mozart’s self-arrangements recordings of a somewhat older vintage capabilities . Not all the supplementary for chamber ensembles likewise appear (mostly made in the 1950s through 70s), arias are successful, for example, Papa- elsewhere in Mozart 225 and are beyond featuring such pianists as Clara Haskil geno’s “Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja” the purview of this review . and . The three record- seems breathless and lacks joy, which How does one do justice to dozens ings labeled “historic” date from the lies less, I think, in Gerald Finley’s of albums in such a brief space? I will 1940s through 50s, with performances

15 by (horn) with the Griller listeners to explore a variety of timbres ery performance to his or her taste, the Quartet, Clifford Curzon (piano) with (and pitch standards) . quality of the recordings is remarkably members of the , and These same cross-reference icons are high throughout . To me, special revela- the Wiener Oktett . The distinction be- also useful in the case of alternate ver- tions were found among the many out- tween “classic” and “regular” record- sions of works . Whereas disc 2 includes standing performances featuring winds ings, however, is rather fuzzy, since sev- the Two Variations in A Major on Giu- and among the “classic” recordings . eral musicians and ensembles appear seppe Sarti’s aria “Come un agnello,” The 1966 live performance by Svia- in both categories . Indeed, some re- K . 460/454a, a spurious version with toslav Richter and of cordings with the designation “classic” eight variations appears together with the four-hands Sonata in C, K . 521, is an date from as late as the 1980s, and many other doubtful compositions on disc ebullient marvel, and the Trio Italiano musicians included among the “classic” 195 . The Wind Serenade in C Minor, d’Archi’s performance of the Diverti- recordings are still performing today . In K . 388/384a (performed by members mento for String Trio, K . 563, is likewise effect, “classic” means little more than of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra a virtuoso tour de force . ’s the older of two non-period-instrument on CD 39), also appears in the version elegant reading of the Oboe Quartet in recordings included in Mozart 225 . But for string quintet (K . 406/516b) among F, K . 370/368b, is easily the finest I have no matter: the inclusion of these sup- Mozart’s self-arrangements on disc 193, heard . And I enjoyed both versions of plemental recordings affords listeners in a performance led by Arthur Grumi- the Clarinet Quintet, K . 581: on mod- the opportunity to compare interpre- aux . ern instruments by Harold Wright and tations, even if many audiophiles will Mozart 225 is not for the faint of members of the Boston Symphony, and wish that Decca and Deutsche Gram- heart; indeed, even as an avid Mozartian on period instruments by mophon had dipped a bit deeper into I will admit to feeling overwhelmed and the Academy of Ancient Music their vast catalogs to include more his- when I first received these forty-nine Chamber Ensemble . toric (pre-1960s) recordings that reflect chamber music discs . And, to be sure, While I was initially skeptical of Mo- older performance traditions . certain discs will be of interest mainly zart 225’s value in a world where many of An accompanying booklet provides to scholars and are unlikely to be most these same recordings are readily avail- details about the dates, locations, and collectors’ pleasure listening (such as able on streaming services, I have come producers for each recording . More CD 1, which features small-scale com- around . These forty-nine discs offer a importantly, given the scope of Mo- positions from the Nannerl Notenbuch comprehensive guided tour through zart 225, it provides icons indicating and the London Sketchbook) . Such is Mozart’s chamber œuvre, from some cross-references to related recordings the nature of Mozart 225, which aspires seldom heard pieces to the concert hall within the box set . After listening to toward completeness . favorites, each represented with terrific ’s performance of But taken one at a time, the indi- performances, and some with no fewer the Rondo in A Minor, K 511. (CD 7), vidual discs are a delight . Typically, than three alternative performances . an icon helpfully directs you to András one might listen to an album of string —Edward Klorman Schiff’s performance on fortepiano (CD quartets all performed by the same en- 40) and to ’s “clas- semble, whereas here, Mozart’s mature sic” performance (CD 46) . If the Horn quartets are represented by the Emer- Quintet in E-flat Major, K 407/386c,. as son, Lindsay, Hagen, Melos, and Or- performed by Hermann Baumann and lando quartets . The discs devoted to the Gewandhaus-Quartett (CD 31) is the piano/violin duo sonatas likewise not to your liking, try the same piece on offer a veritable tasting menu of styles, period instruments with the Academy featuring such diverse artists as Daniel of Ancient Music Chamber Ensemble Barenboim and , Mit- (CD 43) or else the aforementioned suko Uchida and Mark Steinberg, Radu vintage 1944 recording by Brain and the Lupu and Szymon Goldberg, Lambert Griller Quartet (CD 49) . Many compo- Orkis and Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maria sitions featuring winds in particular are João Pires and Augustin Dumay, and presented in recordings on both mod- Natalie Zhu and Hilary Hahn . ern and historical instruments, inviting Although no listener will find ev-

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